Hull and East Riding Green Party

Thursday, 23 November 2017

David Attenborough and his excellent team covered the problem of plastics in the oceans recently. They found plastics everywhere. Now to add to the visible problem, is a invisible one - at least at sea.

Microbeads – Oh come on!! Now we have to have microplastics,
smaller than water filters take out, to make our skin look better – no
matter what happens to water down the line!

If you have any of these products - do us all a favor and just bin them.

How come cosmetic scientists could
not foresee this problem? They’re clever people! How many victims of narrow profit-driven research must there be? Us, them, marine life, the
Earth?

Ireland beat us to the plastic bag charge in 2014 and usage
dropped over 70%. The UK adopted it in 2015 and we’ve seen usage drop 85% -
very impressive. And let’s remember that this is a response to the long-life
of plastic bags and their effects on wildlife – a small yet important
commitment by us all in Britain.

And then we get microbeads!! We don’t need microbeads in our
body wash! We’ve coped for millennia without! What we need are ever cleaner
products - in the Earth sense. The USA banned these in 2016 – so why do we
still have them?!?

When it comes to global ocean plastic, it’s a global issue
which needs a global solution. We need international efforts to clean up the
plastic gyres in the Pacific.

I remember technology to turn plastics back into to oil from years ago. So which is more expensive? A concerted effort to clean up the damage we've done, or a dead planet?

Saturday, 27 May 2017

Martin Deane, Green Party candidate for Hull North, and Secretary for Hull Stop the War for a decade, which campaigned strongly against the Iraq war and subsequent wars, writes -

On Friday, Jeremy Corbyn gave an exceptional speech on how to approach the complex issue of keeping us safe in an increasingly dangerous world.

He never once resorted to cliche, to soundbite or to name-calling; nor did he once play party politics or even MENTION Mrs May or the Tories.

He spelled out what would be the starting point for any attempt to find peace in Syria, namely the gathering of representatives of all non-ISIS forces in Geneva to work towards an agreement on how they can defeat them once and for all. As anyone who studies the situation on the ground will tell you, the war is EXTREMELY complex and your enemy's enemy is not necessarily your friend, so this seems to me to be the wisest and most mature way forward from the current impasse.

Cue media and politicians lambasting him as "unfit for leadership".

Now if using diplomacy to work out the most mature and effective solution to a complex international problem makes you unfit to lead then surely it is the opposite that makes you a good leader? - Refusing to talk, more bombing, more refugees, more terrorists and more slaughter for us all.

Britain needs to decide if it wants to choose the way of war or the way of peace. We know the way of war well. We've helped destroy a number of countries, killing millions of men, women and children in Afghanistan, in Iraq, in Libya, and in Syria, just to name some.

That US-UK coalition has produced chaos in those countries – as many commentators especially the UK peace movement and its million people on the streets, warned.

The definition of insanity is repeating the same mistake and expecting a different outcome. Are we really so addicted to war that that has to be the only response to given intractable violent situations?

Friday, 21 April 2017

Despite stating again and again there would be no snap election – here we are! Theresa May has called an election for June 8th.

In reality this is a tribute to electoral law and the importance of accurate accounts! 30 individual TORY MPs, Election Agents and others, are being investigated by 12 police forces, regarding the 2015 election. Well done Channel 4 on this.

But the simple fact is, a dozen MPs falling foul of electoral law, meaning a by-election in each MARGINAL seat, would be a humiliating (and fitting) end to May's abominable government.

Locally, we're reminded of Safe Labour Seats, of which there are 3 in Hull. This means Labour gets in in Hull.

IT ALSO MEANS that people can vote Green in Hull as much as possible, thus forcing Hull Labour to respect Green priorities and also, importantly, build the vote for next year to finally succeed in making a breakthrough with a first Green councillor.

Wednesday, 2 November 2016

The recent announcement by Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon that Nato 'is waking up to the challenge of Kremlin aggression' and could confront Vladimir Putin's forces in a showdown, is both dissembling and either theatre or a worrying escalation in a new cold war.

there are a number of moves which could mean we are being set up for war with Russia like we were set up for war with Iraq.

Fallon is pretending when he says Nato is waking up to Russian aggression. Nato has been busily encroaching on eastern Europe for years and areas in the former Russian sphere of influence. What we see now is Russia beginning to stand up to Nato's aggressive stance.

This comes in a long list of anti-Russian positions and propaganda which may lead to something other than a cold war. If you look at the Cuban Missile Crisis in the 60s, you know putting missiles near a nation's border is asking for trouble. And Nato has been doing precisely that with so-called Missile Defence for a number of years now.

Add to that the US' success in Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya – as they regard them – as well as its unparalleled military spending and you have a recipe for a new major war.

Fallon noted that Britain would be able to fight a war against Russia within two years.

Fallon may talk tough on a British war with Russia, but everyone knows we rely on America power – even for Trident. But the message is clear – our warmongers are getting ready for war with Russia.

"We need to be prepared for a constant media presentation (as if it wasn't constant enough) of Russia as the bad guy, the threat, the clear and present danger, about which something must be done.

"Clearly any effect of fluoride is highly arguable. Only North Lincs is fluoridated and it's not the best in the region.

"Hull comes 16th in the league, or 6th from bottom. Worse dental health can be found in: Barnsley, Wakefield, Kirklees, Calderdale and Bradford. Hull councillors might consider what methods were successful nationally and what authorities worse than us intend doing."

Ryedale has got the best teeth in Y&H (0.30) on a negligible 0.05 mg/l of fluoride in the water supply.

Harrogate is next (0.55) with similar low natural fluoride in the water.

North Lincs is next (0.60) and is fluoridated at 1mg/l (or 1ppm).

Selby is 4th (0.62) with 0.07 mg/l in its water supply.

Craven is 5th (0.64).

East Yorkshire is 6th with 0.74 and, like Hull, has 0.12 mg/l natural fluoride.

"However, there's a high correlation between well–off authorities and areas which have high index of multiple deprivation – and health decay. Generally speaking, the worse off an authority, the higher the level of tooth decay."

The White Poppy and the Red Poppy are two sides of the same coin. But how will we use it?

Both poppies have a great history.

The White Poppy began to be sold in 1933. It was to stand for all war deaths, an end to wars, and for peace. This came after the 1928 international Kellogg Briand Pact where leading nations agreed to renounce and outlaw war.

A 100 years ago, 90% of the deaths in war were of soldiers. Now, the case for the white poppy is stronger than ever, as 90% of deaths in modern wars, are deaths of civilians. Of those 'dying for their country' now, only 1 in 10 are soldiers.

A lot of people don't know the backstory to the Red Poppy.

In 1918 when the men came back from war, they were furious. They had watched so many of their friends die - in slaughter - in murder as the last veteran told us a few years ago - in the 'war to end all wars' - and which didn't. They had seen so many of their brave comrades cut down, lions led by donkeys.

Officials recognised that something had to be done to help defuse the anger of the hundreds of thousands of men, all trained in arms, who were returning to their country – and to be forgotten by the ruling system.

General Haig was very aware of this anger and wished to support ex-soldiers but also to protect the status quo. So the British Legion was born.

The British Legion soaked up the other ex-servicemen's organisations - except, notably, the NUX, the National Union of Ex-servicemen, which survived until 1922.

Soon Haig and the British Legion adopted the red poppy - via America and France - and this was first sold around the country in 1921, in memory of the military dead.

In 1922 the hundreds of thousands of NUX members were encouraged to join the Labour Party, and others, to work for a fairer country.

In 1923, the Labour Party helped form the government for the first time, and former servicemen became part of the first attempt to create a 'land fit for heroes'.

The question now is: in a country at war for most of this century, so far, and daily taught to hate enemy countries, and many groups of people, what do we know about peace?

Wednesday, 19 October 2016

The BBC, DM, S*n etc, want us to feel outraged today at Syrian refugees who dare to come to this country and dare to lie about their ages. The sooner we see the corporate media as tools of the state like some Machiavellian Dick Dastardly tempting us like lemmings over a cliff, the better.

There are clues in the headlines: Syria and refugees. The first thing we should think when we hear Syria is the Middle East, the pre-eminent centre of oil energy in the world. The second thing we should think is The List. Syria is on America's list going back to the 90s. This is basic modern history with one proviso - it has to get beyond the propaganda.

If the corporate mainstream media were doing their job, there wouldn't have been an Iraq war. Nor a million deaths on our collective conscience. Instead, we have dark actors like Tony Blair trotted out to say he'd do it all over again, as if the amount of death his view of the world depends on were remotely acceptable.

The US DOD List means almost certainly that the Syrian 'civil war' was no accident. Were the media committed to anything like the truth, there would be no war in Syria. By media now I mean not only our mainstream media, which is craven, but America's, even more a basket case, and probably France's (since they're joining our hegemonic foreign policy). The List, post-9/11, was aimed at destroying 7 countries in 5 years. They're behind schedule.

The second clue is 'refugee'. The word goes back to one of our most gloried times: postwar Britain. The surge of national pride carried on for years and included the 1951 Refugee Convention where we would take in people fleeing war.

Now we want to know how old they are! Or examine their teeth! Or leave it to Ealing Council to take some in! But even this probably reflects the pressure of ordinary people across the country wanting us to do our bit, and not leave it to Germany - or Greece. So keep the pressure up. WE should clear the Calais camp, not the French bulldozers. Why? Because we can and 5000 won't kill us.